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Screenwriting

1504ART Digital Video Foundations


• So we have our ideas down pat, you’re breathing fire
and ready to bang out the screenplay of the year,
decade, maybe even the millennium, but before you
do, there are several things you must understand.
• The easiest thing that can be taught about writing is
the format, but another thing to remember is to
"write what you know." A screenplay will be better
if you can draw from your own experiences.
• But if you do want to write about something that
you have little knowledge of, you should do research
to make a credible screenplay.
• The screenplay must be a story that you care about
or feel is important in some way, or you'll eventually
lose interest and have trouble forcing yourself to
finish it.
• To keep the reader's interest, something must hold
tension, whether it be comedic or dramatic,
throughout the entire screenplay.
• Know your characters.
• Everything a character does or says should be
consistent with the character's personality.
• Some people like to envision a particular person or
actor in the parts being written to make it easier to
decide how to write the character.
• The screenplay needs to be completely self-
contained.
• It starts off with an inciting incident somewhere in
the first ten pages which tells the reader what the
movie is going to be about.
• After that, every ten pages must have a plot point
which keeps the story moving.
• A little bit before the middle of the screenplay, about
page 50 to 55, a mid-point crisis should occur that
takes the story in a logical but unexpected direction.
• The conclusion should come at page 105 to page
120 (each page is a minute of film time, and most
movies are two hours or shorter).
• Don't let your screenplay get too top heavy with
dialogue.
• If a story editor - the person who goes through the
entire screenplay to decide whether or not it would
be profitable for the production company to film -
sees that the screenplay is full of characters talking
but rarely doing any sort of visual action, it will be
harder to sell.
• The most common mistake first time screenwriters
make is to try to direct the movie while they are
writing it.
• For instance, if a screenwriter wants to have a certain
word emphasised in the dialogue, he might put it in
all caps.
• However, it is the job of the actors and directors to
decide how a line should be read.
The Screenplay Formula
• The majority of successful
screenplays follow one
particular formula.
• The Screenplay Formula was
developed by Syd Field, a
script editor and writer. He
developed the Screenplay
Formula after many years of
reading spec screenplays for
production companies.
• In effect he ‘reverse
engineered’ the screenplay,
breaking it down into
components.
The diagram above illustrates Syd’s ‘paradigm of
dramatic structure’, his screenplay formula.
• Great scripts (which hopefully become great films)
have distinct beginnings, middles and ends.
• Act One, Act Two and Act Three - a three act
structure.
• In fact these acts are so distinct that you can spot
where each of these acts start and finish.
• Let's assume a film is 2 hours long - that's 120
minutes of screentime and because a page of script
roughly equals a minute of screentime provided the
Screenplay Format is correct the script should be 120
pages long.
• If we split the script up into the three acts, the
beginning of the film (Act One) should take us up to
30 minutes, the middle of the film (Act Two) should
run from 30 to 90 minutes and the end of the film
(Act Three) should be the last 30 minutes giving us 2
hours of non-stop action and entertainment.
• And each act does a different job. Act one is the
setup, Act Two gives us confrontation and Act Three
resolution.
Act 1 : The Setup
(1/4 of the film)
OK, we're in the cinema, the
logos have whooshed over our
heads, we know it's a James
Cameron film...now what?
Where are we? What's going
on? The first 30 minutes is the
setup, it has to lay the
groundwork for the movie and
answer three questions.
1) Who is the film about?

• Who is the lead character? What kind of person are


they?
• Usually we are introduced to the characters and see
what they get up to day to day.
• We are made to identify with the characters and like
them.
• e.g. Luke works on his uncle's farm but wants to go
to the Academy.
2) Where is the film taking
place?

• What's the story's location?


• What kind of world do the characters live in?
• e.g. Luke lives on a desert planet called Tatooine.
3) What’s going to happen?

• Something is going to happen that is going to


challenge the lead character and change their life.
• e.g. Luke's family are killed.
• That's 30 minutes to establish the Characters, the
World and the Premise, and it better keep us
interested!
Plot Point One
• At the end of Act One comes the first plot point.
• A plot point is a hook in the action that spins it
around and creates direction.
• Something happens that sets the course for the rest
of the movie - eg. the aliens invade or a body is
found.
• Now the characters know their purpose; to fight
back against the aliens or discover who the murderer
is.
• And that's what they'll spend Act Two doing.
Act 2 : The
Confrontation (1/2
the film)

Your character has a dramatic


need; to find the holy grail, to
defeat the evil empire or to kill
the shark. But it wouldn't
make that great a film if they
could complete their task in
the next ten minutes. Conflict
is the essence of drama. The
character has to overcome a
series of obstacles that you
drop in their path.
• Create your characters and throw stuff at them for
60 minutes. Let them struggle towards their goal.
• Act Two is the biggie to write - it will be 60 pages
long!!
• To help you out it can be further subdivided into
two, exactly halfway through the film by the mid-
point - usually where something relevant to the
character's main aim becomes clearer.
• Each of these two halves can be cut in half by a
Pinch; a key scene that helps keep the story on track.
Plot Point Two

• At the end of Act Two comes the second plot point.


• Now the character has been moving towards their
goal for the last 60 minutes and it's usually by now
that the the solution is in sight.
• It may not be easy to achieve, but they know what
they have to do.
• Usually its just before plot point 2 that all the really
bad things happen.
• One minute you think, 'wahey! he can make it' but
suddenly he is imprisoned, or his partner gets shot
or something.
• Now the lead character's efforts have to be
redoubled. The last mile is the hardest mile.
Act 3 : The
Resolution
(1/4 of the film)

The film should be on a roll by


now. Everything should be in
place for the finale so it's a
downhill run to the finish line.
All the plot threads and
characterisation that has been
building up in Acts One and
Two can be milked for
dramatic effect and released
and resolved in Act Three.
• If the setup of the film has been done well there's a
lot of freedom in the final act.
• The first act mainly deals with logistics (the
characters live here, they do this etc.) and whilst
these can never be dispensed with completely
there's a lot more room to 'ride the emotion' in the
final act.
• You can let some of the finer points be ignored so
you can concentrate on the bigger picture.
• By Plot Point 2 the main character knows what needs
to be done so Act Three (if you need to split it down
any finer) is spent planning and getting into a
position of strength.
• It deals mostly with carrying out the action and
finally enjoying the afterglow and seeing who gets
to ride off with who into the sunset.
• Next up we will check out Three Kings directed by
David O. Russel - to highlight the screenplay
formula.
• WARNING: Contains strong language, adult themes,
a sex scene and graphic violence!
Three Kings
BREATHE
Screenplay Formatting
• When we do begin to put pen to paper on the
screenplay it is important to follow the correct
screenplay formatting.
• There are two main types of fictional screenplay - the
spec screenplay and the shooting screenplay.
• The spec screenplay is what gets sent out to
producers and actors, but we can probably forget
about that as we are going to pick up a camera
ourselves, so we can write a shooting screenplay.
• Screenplays are best typed
on only one side of the
paper in 12 point courier.

• Double spacing between


lines allows you to read the
screenplay easier.

• Leave good borders around


the screenplay.
• Keep to the above tips and you will have a well laid
out screenplay.
• This can help you time your screenplay as now one
page of screenplay should equal one minute of
screen time.
ELEMENTS OF FORMATTING
SLUG LINES

• The scene heading/slug line


consists of either INT. (Interior
- eg. in a room) or EXT.
(Exterior eg. on the street), the
location (eg. CITY STREET.
NEW YORK) followed by either
DAY or NIGHT
• Don’t worry about morning/afternoon/sunset etc. as
it makes no difference when it is being filmed - no
one is going to shoot you for filming in the
afternoon and pretending it is the morning.
• Here's a few examples to give you a rough idea.

• INT. MORTUARY - NIGHT

• EXT. RACE TRACK - DAY


• Scenes inside cars are INTeriors despite the fact that
the car is outside.
• You may occasionally see EXT/INT or INT/EXT on a
screenplay.
• This occurs when the camera is in one location and
the action is happening in another. For example :
INT/EXT. HOTEL LOBBY/CITY STREET - DAY
• The camera or a character is watching the action
occurring outside
• EXT/INT. CAR/APARTMENT - NIGHT

• The camera or characters are sitting in a car


watching something happening through an
apartment's window.
• Hey, maybe their on a stakeout or something!
THE BUSINESS

• The scene direction/


business.
• This tells the reader what is
going on. Clear, concise.
• Always showing rather than
telling.
• Don't say that : DAVID is suffering inner torment
because of his wife's kidnapping...show us!

• DAVID runs his hands through his hair. Picks up a


shot of bourbon, tastes it and winces. He throws the
glass across the room, hitting the mirror which
SHATTERS.

• Oh yeah! Write in the present tense. It gives events


and action much more immediacy, like they are
really happening, which is what you want.
DIALOGUE

• Dialogue appears in a
column down the centre of
the page indented from the
business. Its in the form :
• The name is straightforward right? It goes in UPPER
CASE.
• The direction isn't always given, in fact in a spec
screenplay you would provide hardly any - telling an
actor how to act is as bad as telling a director how to
direct!
• The only occasion you might put some in would be if
dialogue was directed specifically at another
character eg. (To Alberto) or if it has to be said in a
particular style (Whispering).
• And finally the dialogue itself.
• Try to keep it to a minimum, no long speeches here.
That way there is less for your actors to remember
and less for them to muck up.
• Good actors will always make the best of what you
have written for them and can provide so much
more with their intonation and body language
which you simply cannot write.
• It is said that speech is only 20% of good
communication & that body language comprises the
rest.
• Avoid exposition (that's when you character explains
something in detail) - try and show rather than tell.
• Keep it simple and heed Lew Hunter's words 'Good
dialogue is dialogue that illuminates what the
characters are not saying'.
CHARACTER NAMES

• When a character first


appears their name in the
scene direction should be in
CAPITALS. After that their
name is in lower case.
• Try to avoid giving minor characters names like
THUG 4 as its pretty demeaning to have to play such
a lowly character - 'Hey, I'm not even playing THUG
2'.
• You needn't go to extremes and give them a full
name (unless the character is named by another
character), just spice it up, so that when you offer
the part to your friend, rather then being the fourth
thug they could be a MEAN THUG or TATTOOED
THUG.
• Let's hope your friend doesn't take the description
too personally, eh!
AUDIO

• You can put important


sounds in CAPITALS, so that
monsters SHRIEK and cars
EXPLODE, but this is up to
you. Some people like to,
others don't. If you do put
sounds in upper case try not
to overdo it.
CAMERA DIRECTIONS

• In a shooting screenplay we
can add camera and actor
directions to the screenplay
- in a spec screenplay you
wouldn't do this - just like
you wouldn't turn round to
Coppola and say 'Do a Close
Up here'.
• But as this is our show we get to play director.
• At this stage these abbreviations may not mean to
much to you, however when we cover framing and
composition later in the semester you will gain a
much deeper understanding.
• The following abbreviations will enable you to write
the screenplay more efficiently...
• WS - Wide Shot
• LS - Long Shot
• MLS - Medium Long Shot
• MS - Mid Shot
• MCU - Mid Close Up
• CU - Close-up
• BCU - Big Close Up
• ECU - Extreme Close Up
• Two-Shot - Shot of two characters in the same
picture
• V.O. - voiceover
• O.S. - off screen
• P.O.V. - Point of view (eg. one of those wobbly
cameras they use when someone is breaking into an
apartment in a horror movie.)
• M.O.S. - without sound. Great for when your
characters are staking out some joint, watching the
bad guys pull off some drug deal and they can't hear
what they are saying.
CAMERA MOVEMENTS

• There is also a collection of


shorthand for camera
movements that may be
used in a shooting script.
• TRACK - camera moves completely to the left/right
• PAN - camera pivots left or right
• TILT - camera pivots up or down
• BOOM - camera moves up or down.
• DOLLY - camera moves in/out from subject
• ZOOM - camera zooms in/out from subject (not
strictly a camera movement because it’s the lens
that's moving not the camera but you knew that
right?)
TRANSITIONS

• These are how you change


from one scene to another.
They always sit over to the
right of your screenplay and
on the whole you will find
yourself using CUT TO :
which is a straight change of
picture from one scene to
the next.
• There are some other transitions available but be
careful, they have different connotations to the
viewer.

• DISSOLVE TO :

• The final shot of the previous scenes fades into the


first shot of the next scene. This can be used to
suggest the passing of time.
• FADE IN :

• Usually used at the start of films, with FADE OUT


used to end the movie.
• You can also use CUT TO BLACK and CUT FROM
BLACK/CUT IN.
• OK, so now you’ve learnt all the ins and outs of
writing the screenplay - the traditional way...
• Let’s now have a look at a film that may appear to
break the formula that we looked at earlier...what do
you think?
• Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan.
WARNING: Contains strong language, adult themes
and graphic violence!
MEMENTO

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